Saturday, March 20, 2010

One Resident Questions Why

Her property was assessed $90,000 while the street in front of her driveway was dropped approximately 5 ft due to the Clear Water Creek Development.
Centerville City officials are on record stating the assessment payments would not have to be paid until the driveway was fully corrected. Payments came due last December, ironically the same time this homeowner was hit by a following vehicle while entering the unsafe drive. Prior to the Clear Water Creek Development start this driveway was level with the street and there were no safety issues.
The real question may be who is responsible for repairing the collapsed drive? The City of Centerville or the Developer?

A Little History Review
Per The Citizen July 10, 2008
Fruth had appeared before Centerville City Council at a previous meeting, at which she claimed her drive had been left four feet above street level since the road improvements had been made.
She was offered two options to remedy the situation by the city engineer at the July 10 meeting, but explained she would need further time to decide which course of action she wished to pursue. The City Council voted to delay the passing of a resolution on Old Mill Road residents’ special assessments until a later meeting when Fruth’s situation had been resolved.
The Citizen

Ms. Fruth questions why the City of Centerville is insisting her property is potentially worth over one million dollars while the Anoka County property tax statement shows her property value has dropped approximately $50,000 and Zillow.com estimates a value of $272,500. Ms. Fruth is willing to sell to any developer willing to pay the price (One Million) the current council claims the property is worth.
Why do Council members continue to insist they know everything? We see every day how their pretending to be decorators influenced the colored concrete and street lights on Main Street!


As you can see the driveway issue has still not been resolved by the City of Centerville yet the resident has already been assessed $90,000. Curiously, the Developer (previous member of Planning and Zoning history) has had his assessments deferred.
Additional history Here

10 comments:

Blondie said...

Uh oh, next the City will sic the Sign Gestapo on her!
What a joke this council is.

Anonymous said...

The problem is, the person isn't in the "Circle of Trust" as the Clear Water Creek Developer is.

It isn't what you know but who you know in the city.

The city really knows how to screw people and they always have to have someone to harass.

Anonymous said...

Unbelievable. Not familiar with this story. So, this resident was assessed $90K for a development? Were other residents assessed this as well? How many other residents were assessed for this development? How much did the developer pay in assessments? And now this resident has to pay on these assessments BEFORE the city fixes her driveway? Exactly what is/are the benefit(s) to this resident and other residents that they would be assessed such any exorbitant amount by the city?

Can't believe this is happening in such a small town.

Anonymous said...

As I understand it, the developer needed to put in utilities to develop his land. The road had to be torn up and curbing put in. These people, along with three others had to pay for the improvements. Most of the assessment was charged against two of the people.

This particular person already had sewer and water at the property but had never hooked up.

This party had a septic tank an well for water.

I think it should have been up to the developer to pay for improvements since it was his project. Many others feel the same way.

While the road was not brought up to the previous level, the culvert was taken out and not replaced, the party's driveway is a mess.

Anonymous said...

This whole assessment was dead wrong. The council and Mayor screwed over two long time residents(over 30 years in Centerville) Mark my words, we will have a new mayor come January 1st. My vote will be for Tom Wilharber!

Anonymous said...

Right on. Bravo! Let's get the mayor out.

Centerville Girl said...

Looks like a classic case of it's who you know around here.
Since when do residents have to pay for road assessments benefiting a developer while the developer skates?
Looking forward to kicking the bums out in November!!!
The City needs to stop getting into bed with development and get back to the job of providing basic services.

Anonymous said...

Potentially worth is not the same as what one can sell for. ESPECIALLY in this economy when we have over 20 foreclosures in our small town.
The Beard Group has bailed on us, the downtown development was a bad idea (lead by stupid leaders) and we need to get Government out of our lives!
See ya, Capra!

Anonymous said...

CRIMINAL!

Anonymous said...

MODERATOR.......PLEASE POST THIS ON YOUR BLOG......MEETING TONIGHT.........THIS AFFECTS EVERYONE WHO PAYS TAXES........NOT JUST PEOPLE GETTING A TRAIL IN THEIR YARD.................


Regional Trail Open-House
Wednesday, July 07, 2010 at 5:00 PM
to Wednesday, July 07, 2010 at 7:00 PM



Location: St. Genevieve's Community Parish Center
6995 Centerville Road
Centerville, MN 55038